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Memphis Grizzlies head coach J.B. Bickerstaff talks to his players in the first half of an NBA basketball game against the New Orleans Pelicans in New Orleans, Wednesday, April 4, 2018. (AP Photo/Scott Threlkeld)(Photo: Scott Threlkeld, AP)

Now the Grizzlies have hired J.B. Bickerstaff as head coach and will almost certainly not win the press conference. But it’s an entirely sensible thing to do.

ESPN reported late Thursday that the Grizzlies and Bickerstaff have agreed to a three-year deal that will elevate Bickerstaff from interim head coach to head coach, period. Anyone who has been paying attention knew this was inevitable.

Marc Gasol, Mike Conley and Chris Wallace all endorsed Bickerstaff at the end-of-the-season press gathering. Conley said “he definitely deserves the job.” After the day was done, I told y’all that “Bickerstaff will be promoted from interim to permanent head coach “and that the Grizzlies should just give this guy his contract and be done with it.” Now the Grizzlies are doing just that.

But the Bickerstaff hire will not excite the populace. Indeed, it has already drawn outrage from some media members and fans, outrage which can be broken down into three broad categories:

The Grizzlies are going cheap again

Robert Pera, cheap? The man is buying out two partners at a franchise price of $1.3 billion and people are really calling him cheap? Pera may be many things. Mysterious, absent and even neglectful might all work. But cheap? No. Pera is not cheap. He has spent money on max players, he has spent money on the Grizzlies facility and staff, and he just agreed to spend a whopping amount of money to retain control of the franchise.

Yes, Lionel Hollins and Dave Joerger both had to go to other franchises to get their big contracts. But that’s not the reason the Grizzlies let them go. Jason Levien didn’t want to keep Hollins around. Chris Wallace didn’t want to keep Joerger around. The separations were about personality and/or philosophical clashes, not cash.

The one thing you might be able to say about the Grizzlies through the years is that they don’t especially value good coaching. I won’t disagree with that. But if Pera thought the team could win a lot more games by paying big money for a coach other than Bickerstaff, he would certainly do it. He spends money on everything else.

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Memphis Grizzlies head coach J.B. Bickerstaff reacts to a call during the first half of a preseason NBA basketball game against the Houston Rockets, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2018, in Birmingham, Ala. Butch Dill-AP

Memphis Grizzlies Coach J. B. Bickerstaff greets his former player Indiana Pacers Tyreke Evans (12) during a delay prior to the start of the first half of a preseason NBA basketball game Saturday, Oct. 6, 2018, in Memphis, Tenn. Karen Pulfer Focht-AP

University of Memphis head basketball coach Penny Hardaway (left) and Memphis Grizzlies head coach J.B. Bickerstaff (right) were the featured guests at the Memphis Chambers The Game Plan of Memphis Basketball event on Sept. 5, 2018. Mark Weber, The Commercial Appeal

Memphis Grizzlies interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff calls to players during the first half of the team's NBA basketball game against the Denver Nuggets on Saturday, March 17, 2018, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Brandon Dill) Brandon Dill, AP

March 15, 2018 - Memphis Grizzlies center Marc Gasol (33) is helped to his feet by interim head coach J.B. Bickerstaff after being fouled by the Chicago Bulls during the fourth quarter at FedExForum on Thursday night in Memphis. Yalonda M. James/The Commercial Appeal

March 15, 2018 - Memphis Grizzlies interim head coach J.B. Bickerstaff looks at a scoreboard as his team competes against the Chicago Bulls during the first quarter at FedExForum on Thursday night in Memphis. Yalonda M. James/The Commercial Appeal

Memphis Grizzlies interim head coach J.B. Bickerstaff calls to players in the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Milwaukee Bucks, Monday, March 12, 2018, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Brandon Dill) Brandon Dill, AP

March 02, 2018 - Interim head coach of the Grizzlies, J.B. Bickerstaff, reacts after calling a timeout during Friday night's game versus the Denver Nuggets at the FedExForum. Brad Vest/The Commercial Appeal

Memphis Grizzlies head coach J.B. Bickerstaff (middle) is held back by player JaMychal Green (right) after being tossed from the game for getting a second technical foul during fourth quarter action Utah Jazz at the FedExForum in Memphis, Tenn., Wednesday, February 7, 2018. Mark Weber/The Commercial Appeal

Memphis Grizzlies interim head coach J.B. Bickerstaff calls to players in the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Philadelphia 76ers Monday, Jan. 22, 2018, in Memphis, Tenn. Brandon Dill, AP

Memphis Grizzlies coach J.B. Bickerstaff motions to his players during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Sacramento Kings in Sacramento, Calif., Sunday, Dec. 31, 2017. Steve Yeater, AP

Memphis Grizzlies General Manager Chris Wallace (left) introduces new interim head coach J.B. Bickerstaff during a press conference at the FedExForum in Memphis, Tenn., Tuesday, November 28, 2017. Bickerstaff, who was the Grizzlies associate head coach takes over recently fired head coach David Fizdale. Mark Weber/The Commercial Appeal

Memphis Grizzlies assistant coach J. B. Bickerstaff leads head coach David Fizdale towards the team bench after Fizdale was charged with a technical could during the game against the Charlotte Hornets on Nov. 25, 2016. Nikki Boertman

They didn’t even interview other candidates

So what? Neither did the Memphis Tigers interview other candidates to replace Tubby Smith. If you know who you want, if you’ve identified someone as the right choice for the job, why go through the charade of interviewing candidates you’re not going to hire?

The Grizzlies interviewed plenty of candidates before hiring Fizdale. Some of those candidates (Vogel and San Antonio assistants James Borrego and Ettore Messina) are available now. But the Grizzlies aren’t going to hire them. They’re going to hire Bickerstaff. So why go through that whole process again?

Bickerstaff is the wrong choice

OK, I can listen to this argument. It may turn out to be correct. The Grizzlies are hiring a head coach with a career record of 52-82. But every coaching hire has to be considered in its particular context. And in the current context, hiring Bickerstaff makes sense.

The Grizzlies have decided they want to be back in the playoffs next year. They’re going to build around two aging stars, a collection of younger role players, and a high lottery pick. The two aging stars have both made it clear they want Bickerstaff to return as head coach. The younger role players showed progress under Bickerstaff last year. Why disrupt that to bring in the next Fizdale? No, Bickerstaff hasn’t proven anything. Neither had Fizdale when he was widely acclaimed as a brilliant hire. My colleague Chris Herrington said on my radio show that maybe Bickerstaff would get more respect if he had a cool nickname, if he called himself “The Bick.”

None of this is to guarantee that Bickerstaff is going to be a smash hit with the Grizzlies. Most NBA coaches are only as good as their rosters anyway. Dallas has a brilliant coach in Rick Carlisle but just finished a season with 24 wins. Miami has a championship coach in Erik Spoelstra but was just swept out of the playoffs in the first round.

Bickerstaff was given a no-win job in Memphis and (sure enough) didn’t win all that much. Which is exactly what the franchise wanted, of course. But along the way, he somehow earned the respect of established players like Gasol and Conley, newer players like Dillon Brooks and Andrew Harrison, and a front office that knows it doesn't have many more chances to get it right.

So no, Bickerstaff will not create a buzz in the fan base. He will not win the press conference. But he has won the chance to try and guide the Grizzlies back into the playoffs, however unlikely that may be.